Age of Chaos
The phrase Age of Chaos (Esperanto: Aĝo de Kaoso) is the term coined by some historians to describe the decade long period of social, economical, political and environmental upheaval which racked large areas of the world following the nuclear exchange of 2116. Detailed accounts of the destruction have never been fully collated but most historians agree that between 80 and 100 million people died as a result of the violence, disease, famines, and violent weather which effected most of the planet. The term itself was first used in the late 22nd century, contemporary accounts used phrases such as "the Second Dark Ages" or more simply "The Devastation" to describe the situation. Global Effects The nuclear exchange saw billions of tons of soot, ash, and other particulates had been thrown into the upper atmosphere by the nuclear blasts, much of it radioactive. Prevailing winds meant that this debris formed a girdle of dust around the equator, blocking out a small but noticeable amount of sunlight. This reduction in sunlight effected the temperature of the world's oceans effecting currents, in turn leading to a massive disruption in weather patterns across the globe. The southern hemisphere was effected the most with areas experiencing wild fluctutions in their climate. Dusruptions to the global climate caused tens of millions of people to flee their homes. These mass migrations strained many nations infrastructures to breaking point leading to more chaos and violence. The particulate clouds also affected air travel. High flying jet aircraft were, for several months, in danger of suffering dust suffocation. The resulting chaos to world travel cost the global economy several billion dollars and also hampered afforts to provide aid and support to survivors in the Middle East and South Asia. Trans-atmospheric spaceplanes and orbital shuttles, which did not need air intakes, were generally unaffected. Effects by Region The Middle East The Middle East was at the centre of the chaos following the nuclear exchange. Most of the major cities had been destroyed, millions of people were dead (including most political and military leaders), and the economies of all of the combatants, already drained by six months of fighting, were crippled. Neighbouring countries, which had remained neutral in the war, suddenly found themselves inundated with refugees. Nearly three million people fled south into Saudi Arabia alone. Nuclear fallout and the residue from chemical weapons had rendered large areas poisonous, many toxins had leeched into the water table potentially endangering people many miles from the combat zones. Birth defects and still births would plague many areas for decades after the war, and even today cancer rates in parts of the region are considerably higher than the rest of the globe South Asia India and Pakistan also suffered directly from the exchange. India had previously been the sixth largest economy in the world, with more millionaires than the UK. The loss of the countries largest and wealthiest city crippled the Indian stock exchange. At the same time ethnic violence exploded across the country. Hindus and Sikhs began attacking Muslim Indians, burning down mosques and destroying property. An estimated 500'00 people died in the twelve months after the nuclear strike, with nearly a million more been driven from their homes. Order was only reestablished when the government deployed military units in all of the major cities. Some historians refer to this period as the "Indian Civil War" although it is more often seen as simply a period of major civil unrest. In Pakistan the chaos was effectively total. The entire government was dead (either from the rumoured coup attempt or the Indian strikes), the military had been decimated, and millions were dead or injured. Very quickly Pakistan fractured into small petty states with warlords and military govenors attempting to carve out their own powerbases. The entire region suffered from climate change during the period 2117-2125. More than a hundred category five cyclones struck the Bay of Bengal, causing massive destruction across Bangladesh, Burma, India, and Sri Lanka. Flooding in Bangladesh alone killed nearly a million people and left five million more either homeless or without power or water. Eventually, in 2122, India was forced to deploy troops across the border into Bangladesh to help restore order. The presence of Indian troops, even those drawn from Muslim units, caused great resentment initially but this reduced once aid and supplies began reaching the worst hit areas. Similar deployments into Pakistan were primarily to quash bandit raids but by 2120 India was in effective control of several border regions. In 2121 Iran agreed to send troops into western Pakistan to provide aid and security. East Asia Bejing suffered some of the hottest and driest summers on record with thousands dying on heat stroke or dehydration every year. The city also suffered a major inversion leading to the formation of smog banks heavy in pollutants, this caused thousands more to die from respiratory failure. Similar smog banks also effected several cities in Japan including Tokyo and Osaka. Again thousands died and many more seriously effected causing massive strain on the emergency services. Europe The early part of the 22nd century had been seen as the start of a new era of prosperity and opportunity. The economies of most of the nations were stable and growing, the political instabilities caused by the Arctic War and its aftermath had settled down, fusion power was providing abundant cheap energy, and the development of FTL travel had opened up whole new worlds for exploration and colonisation. Whilst very little fallout landed on Europe (just a few isolated incidents in southern Italy and Greece), the psychological effect was traumatising to many. The idea that humanity would resort to nuclear weapons was a terrible shock to a continent which had only recently stepped back from the abyss itself. The stock markets across Europe collapsed as people began panic selling shares, feeling that if the world was going to end soon then their money would be better spent on food and other necessities rather than lock up in shares. Food shortages started to effect the major cities as people stockpiled supplies and riots broke out across the continent. Many predicted the end of the world and doomsday cults sprang up, as they did across the globe. One of the most widespread of these cults was the Church of Christ the Martyr which had its peak had over eight thousand members in Europe and North America. The Church preached that the exchange was simply the first in a long series of catastrophes, both natural and man-made, which would engulf the globe in the coming years. The Church also predicted that the Gaia Initiative was doomed to failure. Days before the first colonists embarked for Gaia the bulk of the Church's members commited suicide. Over four thousand people died in the space of a single weekend with hundreds more dying in the following weeks. Ethnic violence was another source of death and destruction. Many far right groups blamed both Jews and Muslims for the nuclear exchange, especially in areas where refugees had been settled. One of the worst incidents of violence was the three day "Battle of Bradford" when several groups descended on that city in a wave of organised violence against the Muslim community there. Over three hundred people died and thousands injured before the government was forced to declare martial law and mobilise Army units to bring order back onto the streets. The organisers of the attacks were arrested and executed by firing squad. Other major atacks took place in France and Germany. One estimate suggests that over twenty thousand people were killed simply because they were either Muslim or looked "foreign". Bad weather was also a major problem in Europe. Changes to the Gulf Stream meant that northern and western Europe experienced a number of severe winters followed by cold, wet summers. In 2118 a series of late frosts wiped out much of the continents apple and grape harvests and set back crop growth. Poor harvests led to food shortages in a number of countries including Ireland, Norway, and the UK. In the east Belarus and the Ukraine, once considered the breadbaskets of Eastern Europe, suffered severe droughts between 2117 and 2120 forcing them to seek aid from Russia. The North Sea experienced a number of storm surges which threatened a number of low lying areas. In the UK the Thames Estuary Barrier, built in the 2070's, prevented London from being flooded but the Linconshire Fens, the Norfolk Broads and the area of the Mouth of the Humber and the Vale of York were all flooded. The Fens remain underwater to this day In the Low Countries the flood defences generally held, having been heavily reinforced during the late 21st century, but there were several major breaches resulting in hundreds of deaths and the loss of thousands of hectares of arable land. Central Europe suffered from many major floods during this period with the Danube bursting its banks on a regular basis. Africa The effects of the exchange on Africa were initially slow to appear. By late 2117 however the effects were beginning to devestate the continent. The east coast of Africa suffered a series of tropical cyclones which flooded huge areas whilst at the same time the west of the continent began experiencing the worst drought in nearly a century. Ironically Southern Africa was one of the few areas to, perhaps indirectly, benefit from the climate changes. For a decade prior to 2116 Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, and South Africa had been in the grip of one of the worst drought the region had seen in over a hundred years. The winter of 2117 (summer in the Northern hemisphere) saw almost continuous light rains falling across the region replenishing the water table and reversing much of the damage without causing major flooding. This weather pattern would continue for the next decade allowing Southern Africa to become a major supplier of food not only to it's neighbours but also South Asia and Europe The Americas North America and the Caribbean suffered heavily following the nuclear exchange. Tropical hurricanes increased in both frequency and strength. No fewer than eighteen major (EF-4 and -5) storms were recorded, all but two of which made landfall. The state of Louisiana suffered some of the worst flooding, and the city of New Orleans was devastated. In 2119 the city and the surrounding counties were officially abandoned forcing over half a million people to seek shelter elsewhere in the country. Cuba and the other nations of the Carribean also suffered major loss of live and property damage with more than a million people dying between 2117 and 2126 as a direct result of the weather. Other parts of the USA, including the Mid-West and the Great Plains suffered extensive periods of drought resulting in several food shortages. In 2119 the US Government was forced to introduce rationing in several states and a number of farms which had previously grown "luxury" foods were purchased via eminent domain laws and converted to the growing of staple foods to increase supply. Canada was also badly effected but was able to avoid carrying out any expropriations. Global Response In 2120 the UN issued a report which suggested that as much as 80% of the human race might eventually die as a result of the ongoing situation, causing global panic. The best solution put forward to continue humanities survival was to attempt to move as many people as possible to the newly discovered worlds of Gaia and Ciamverde. This project would eventually be named the Gaia Initiative. Category:Background